Dream

Miracle glanced around, dread filling her. Wherever she was, it was weird. It looked like the town she originated from, but there was something off about it. I thought… wasn't I with the others? She bit her lip, feeling slightly panicked at the notion none of them were there.

Miracle took a deep breath in an attempt to calm herself down. Okay, it's alright, Miracle. Just… just calm down a bit. She shook her head, deciding to walk around. She could definitely tell what exactly was odd about it. There wasn't a single person there, and it was far too dark to be considered daytime. Despite that, it didn't look like night time either.

"Miracle?"

Miracle stiffened at the voice, slowly turning around. "Y-Yes…?"

"Oh! It is you! I was wondering where you went." The person ran up to her, revealing her used-to-be friend.

"Matias?" Miracle spoke up. "I thought you said…."

"Said what?" He tilted his head to the side.

"You hated me. Y'know, you only said that a couple hours ago…."

"Uh…." Matias blinked, seeming confused. "I don't think I did? Unless I was half passed out, I'm not sure."

Miracle hesitated. What's with this place? Maybe a dream? "O-Oh, well then, nevermind… I guess…." She sighed. "Why are you here?"

Matias glanced around. "I don't really know, I've been around here for a while…."

"Can I ask you something else, actually?"

"Hm? What is it?"

"Are you real?"

Matias hesitated, raising an eyebrow. "Yes…?"

Miracle frowned. "I need you to be absolutely serious right now. Is this a dream?"

"Oh, that's what you mean." Matias nodded, smiling slightly. "It is a 'dream', I guess. But not exactly." Matias stepped back, glancing around as if looking for someone. Miracle paused at those words, wondering what that could mean. The scene suddenly started getting darker, throwing Miracle back into a panic.

"What's that supposed to mean?!" She shouted. Before she realized, Matias was completely gone, and the entire space went black. Miracle ran around, suddenly feeling the group drop out from under her. She yelped, as she started falling.

She couldn't see anything else besides herself, in what even appeared to be the void. Miracle flipped around in the air, trying to balance herself. However, she was quickly finding that to be impossible, as she continuously overshot the amount of force she was putting into turning. The whistling of wind was getting to her, as she feared that she'd be nearing the ground soon.

Miracle covered her face, closing her eyes. She attempted to will herself awake, but it didn't work. All of a sudden, she stopped hearing the wind. Miracle cautiously removed her hands, glancing around. Somehow, she'd stopped falling. It was still pretty dark, but there seemed to be some type of light shining down on where she was standing. What's with this palace? She thought, worry filling her mind. Why am I dreaming something like this? Is it a dream? I'm still not sure! She tugged lightly at her hair.

"Hm?" A new voice appeared. "Oh~ would you look at that! How'd you end up here of all places?"

"What is that supposed to mean?" She spat out.

"I dunno, really just felt like saying it." The owner of the voice stepped into the light, a taunting smile on his face. "Truth be told, I don't know what this is either."

"Is it a dream or not?"

"Woah, calm down, little Ms. Pissy."

"Cut the shit, Fabian." Miracle frowned. "Tell me exactly what's happening."

Fabian shrugged. "Sure, sure, whatever you say, I guess!" He sighed, shaking his head. "But, I will say, that I'm not really here. Yeah, it's a dream." He stepped closer. "But that doesn't mean I'm not going to say anything."

Miracle paused. "What exactly does that entail?"

"And what gives me the obligation to tell someone like you?" Fabian replied, a smug grin on his face. He stepped closer, Miracle reaching for her sword. She quickly drew it, holding it in front of her. "Oh no, a sword! How spooky!"

"I can hurt you with this, in fact, I can kill you." Miracle reminded him. "Stop being so cocky!"

Fabian only laughed at her threat, walking even closer to her. "You? Hurt me? How funny." Miracle stepped back slightly, feeling a little intimidated. "Go ahead, stab me. See what good it'll do you."

Miracle hesitated, but quickly stabbed the sword forwards. There was silence, after the sword made contact. Fabian merely glanced down at the sword, grinning at it. "What…?" Miracle muttered.

Fabian took his hand towards the parts of the dissolved sword, moving around the sparkles. "Huh, would you look at that!" He laughed, as Miracle jumped back. There was a wound, but it wasn't nearly deep enough to do too much damage. "Looks like you can't. Even when I don't do anything."

Miracle stared at the sword in her hand. "Why didn't it… why does it not work this time around?"

Fabian grinned. "I don't know, has it even worked? Think about it." Miracle looked back to the fight from earlier that day, realizing quickly what Fabian was talking about. Fabian's smile grew wider, noticing her realization. "That's right. You made the wound, and sure, it alarmed me." Fabian covered up the new gash on him, shrugging a little. "Surprise definitely makes things hurt a lot more. But I expected it this time." He started walking closer to Miracle once again.

"G-Get back!" She shouted, raising the sword again.

"Really? Why don't you convince me first?" Fabian countered. "Fix it. Your problems, your weakness, everything that's making you fail here. But you can't, can you?" Fabian's expression shifted from something bright, to something completely evil. "You're not capable of it. You'll never be, you're not going to ever be able to kill me. Which makes you the most useless person on that team. Honestly, if I really felt like it, I could have killed you a long time ago. But thankfully, you've got Hydema to protect you!"

Miracle started taking more steps back, as Fabian kept advancing. "S-Shut up! I don't wanna hear it!"

"Well I'm going to make you hear it!" Fabian shouted, throwing his hands up. "You're the worst, you're too weak to save anyone, much less kill me. Undeniably, you'll just end up being the first person to die in this entire war we're having. Even if you're the Godslayer, it doesn't matter. I don't give a shit, none of us do. The only reason why people are even deciding to help you is because of that sword." He said, pointing at the cobalt colored sword. "So, why don't you just stop trying? Get rid of yourself, so someone else can have it."

Miracle's breathing hitched at those words, feeling strangely hurt by them. Fabian's expression went back to bright and happy, which caught her off guard. "Hm, maybe not! Then if you do, someone more powerful will get that sword… yeah, nevermind! Disregard!"

"I-I can't just disregard that! You just told me to go kill myself!" Miracle shouted. "That's not okay! You're not okay! You can't come here and tell me I'm worthless!"

"Actually, that was one of the adjectives I didn't use, so shut up?" Fabian cut in.

"No, it's my turn to talk, so you shut up!" Miracle shouted back. Fabian shrugged, not opening his mouth to speak up. "You're destroying everything! Even if I am as useless as you say I am, I'm actually trying to keep this world in check! You're running everything, so why don't you just leave?!"

"Oh, trust me, I've done that once before." Fabian replied, tapping his finger on his forehead. "And it wasn't great, trust me on that. I missed so much time with my best friend!"

Miracle grit her teeth. "Stop that…."

"Hm~?" Fabian sneered. "What…? Stop talking about Matias? How come?"

"He's an actual decent person, unlike you! He doesn't deserve to be mentioned!" Miracle screamed.

Fabian gave her an uninterested look. "Oh? Really? Is that what you think? Don't you remember when he said that he hated you?"

"I do, but after all of this, I don't know how truthful that statement can be." Miracle glared at the opposition. "Did you do something?"

"Did I?" Fabian asked, tapping his chin, a sly smile on his face. "I did."

Miracle went silent, staring at him with wide eyes. "You call him your best friend, yet you would do something like that to him?"

"Who's to say? But I'd say it's your fault for not being able to stop him." Fabian replied, pointing at her. "You let him go. You let me take him. So, it's your fault." He raised both of his hands up, referring to Miracle. "Congrats, Miracle! You've brought so many issues upon yourself, just because you weren't strong enough to deal with them!" He laughed again, turning around. Miracle didn't have any type of rebuttal, letting the words sink in. "Well then, I'll leave now. It was fantastic talking to you, Miracle." Fabian then flew off, leaving Miracle alone in the dark.

~~~~~~~~

Miracle woke up with a start, glancing around with panic. After quickly determining that she was still in the forest her group had taken camp at, she let out a sigh of relief. So it was just a dream…. She shook her head, standing up and throwing the blankets off of her. Miracle hardly had the capacity to sleep after the nightmare, walking through the forest.

It was quietly there, with only the sound of a few bugs around the place. Miracle was incredibly shaken up by her dream, wishing she could just completely block out the memory. Or to have forgotten it the moment she woke up. Why do people only remember their nightmares…? She wondered. It just causes so many issues…. Miracle shook her head again, pushing through the lower branches of some trees.

In front of her was a small river, flowing gently by the banks. Miracle sighed, sitting down next to it and splashing water onto her face. It felt refreshing, after all she had gotten very hot during the night. That nightmare must have caused that issue for me…. She thought bitterly.

"Good evening, Miracle!"

Miracle flinched, screaming a little. "W-What?!"

"Woah, calm down! It's just me, Keanu." Miracle looked behind her, seeing the living puppet standing behind her. "Why are you up so late?"

"O-Oh…." Miracle mumbled. "I just had a nightmare…."

"Ah, that sucks ass." Keanu huffed, sitting down next to her. "I don't have dreams or nightmares, since I don't actually sleep. Kinda a perk, but not really, because I'm bored as fuck when it's nighttime." He shook his head, shrugging. "At least I don't feel tired ever."

Miracle smiled slightly. "Yeah, I guess…."

Keanu glanced at her, a slightly worried expression crossing his face. "Is there something wrong? You seem bothered by something."

Miracle sighed, closing her eyes. "It's just… I don't know… I had a run in with an old friend of mine. And… they were so different. They said they hated me."

Keanu frowned. "Is this the person with Fabian?"

"Mhm…." Miracle nodded her head. "I don't know what to think though."

Keanu hummed in thought, tapping his lip. "Well, how about you think about it? How out of character are they?" Miracle paused, staring at her reflection in the water. What do I think about it? It seemed… genuine… but with Fabian included in this mix….

"He seemed… really out of character." Miracle admitted. "I could hardly recognize him."

"Then, maybe something happened!" Keanu responded. "Like, he got blackmailed, or some type of magic."

Miracle blinked, going over the likelihood of that statement. "That… might be it."

Keanu smiled. "Well, why don't we try to figure it out? The next time you see him, try to remind him of anything. We'll see what happens. If it turns out he's doing this of his own free will, then you're just fucked. Sorry to say."

Miracle sighed, laughing slightly. "I think so. I'll try it next time." She shook her head, standing up. "Well, I think that's helped me out. Thanks, Keanu."

"No problemo." Keanu waved his hand. "Anyways, I'm gonna go sit in a corner and do nothing again. See you in the morning!" They then turned away, running back into the forest. Miracle stood next to the river, glancing back down at her reflection again. She smiled softly at herself, letting out a relieved sigh. We'll see what happens. We'll see who gets out on top of this whole thing, Fabian….